Friday, 30 April 2010

Well today I have no card to show but thought I'd show a painting I did some time ago. This was for a friend who has a gorgeous kitty called Patrick. So here is Patrick looking adorable. I haven't done any painting in ages since I had the stroke. I must get back into it.

Well yesterday was a bit of a disaster. Last night I was just about to go into the sitting room when ... kapow!!! The rear wheel of my electric wheelchair exploded! And I mean EXPLODED, not just go flat but BOOM! And a load of liquid splurted out of it and shot from my computer room right into the hall way and over the fish tank! Totally scared Miaowski out of her wits so she isn't going any where near me now.

Well that has never happened to me before. It didn't scare me luckily but it has inconvenienced me. I'm now going to be waiting today for someone to come out and hopefully repair it. I have rung quite a few numbers and finally got through to someone. Apparently they are meant to respond within 24 hours for an emergency. Well I am waiting for a technician to ring me back now and so far it has been half an hour.

Luckily I can push my manual wheelchair ok and now I have a lot more of my strength back it isn't as hard as it was. But still, it means I can't nip about doing what I like to do. Just as well the weather has gone back to being cold and rainy otherwise I would be miffed at not being able to go out into the sun.

Ahh well, how about a picture of Miaowski looking uncomfortable? Somebody get that cat a pillow!!! She's not looking too impressed is she?

Well, hopefully I will have my chair fixed by the end of the day (a lot sooner than that I hope!). Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by ...

Thursday, 29 April 2010

I love Hero Art's new Artists Proofs stamps and this dandelion is from their Wildflowers Garden cling set. I put the ribbon on but it covered the leaf so I altered it slightly by stamping it again, cutting out the leaf and attaching it again but this time higher up. I attached it with a foam pad to lift it up a bit. The dots in the background are stamped with Stampin Up's Whisper White pigment ink which I love because it works well enough on it's own without having to emboss it using white embossing powder. I added Rangers glossy accents to the centre of the flower and it reminds me a bit of a fried egg now!

Well I love the colours of this card because oranges and yellows always cheer me up. Not that I need cheering up because I'm feeling very chirpy.

What also cheers me is seeing the beauty of a dandelion seed head. They are truly magical and although a lot of people dismiss dandelions as weeds, I love them. It's nice to see a bit of beauty growing out of concrete.What is the aroma I can smell today? Well today Mr or Mrs Patak's Jalfrezi sauce is wafting through my flat and it is a gorgeous smell of warm coconut, mmm, yummy! So really when I say I've done a bit of cooking, I have simply opened the jar and poured it over browned chicken thighs and softened peppers. I think Patak's sauces are the best so far, so I recommend them!

Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Stampin Up's new bird with branch and wing new punch is gorgeous and I love it. I could play with this so much using loads of different colour combinations. I also used SU's Boho Blossoms punch for the flowers and a little bit of crystal accents for the centres. So you might be seeing more of this little bird as I try out more versions. Just a simple card using Nestabilities circle and large scalloped circle to set it off. The 'Hello' is from a clear set by Hero Arts and I must make a note of the names of these sets as I can't remember which one it's from.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

So I thought I'd have another go with the brayer and see what I could come up with. All the stamps used are by Lavinia stamps. I tried creating some depth by stamping the bluebells black in the foreground and blue in the distance mainly cos I didn't have a darker blue so I thought black will have to do. I created the grass by brayering over a mask I'd made with distress inks shabby shutters and peeled paint. The leaves are in the same colours with the lighter shade stamped first and then the darker over the top to give that depth effect.

Well it is very peaceful upstairs now my neighbours have left. And I can't believe it but I'm missing them already! Honestly, they drove me to my wits end sometimes with the noise they made. What with the drumming on drums to extremely ancient rock music, banging and thumping and crashing where it sounded like they were throwing heavy furniture around, shouting, screaming and general anger management issues. Oh and the dog that sounded like it had 20 pairs of legs stampeding around and getting excited everytime there was a visitor and/or howling in despair every time he was left on his own. Half the time I felt like they were living with me and sometimes I expected to find them crashing through my ceiling. Miaowski has developed a crick in her neck with all the times she's been looking up at the ceiling wondering what the heck is going on up there.

Now it is peace, peace, peace and we are just not used to it - but it is GREAT!!!!!!!

Monday, 26 April 2010

I haven't done any scenic stamping in awhile. So I thought I'd have another go. Using a brayer can be quite tricky and I can't seem to get the dreamy effect I'd like. I used beautiful Lavina stamps for this card and Hero Arts for the sentiment and dragonflies.

You can see marks on the image from the acetate I used as an overlay, probably my fingerprints from fiddling around with it. I had a lot of trouble placing the circle behind the acetate and couldn't get it straight. Ah well, this is just a practice.

Had a lovely weekend. Well, apart from the noise of my neighbours upstairs who are moving out. To save them the trouble of taking their rubbish to the tip, they spent all weekend breaking up their furniture into small pieces so they could just put them in the bins outside!!!!

Friday, 23 April 2010

So that is why I haven't made any new cards for today's post. So I'm offering up an old card I made years ago.

I can't help with the names of the stamps I've used as I've totally forgotten. But the central Japanese lady was done by stamping onto a piece of card and then triple embossing with UTEE to give a beautiful tiled effect. The bamboo stamp was embossed with gold embossing powder and the background paper was handmade Japanese paper.

This morning I sat outside with my friend, eating Lemon polenta cake - absolutely delicious so I looked up the recipe and will share that with you incase you fancy trying it ... I recommend!!!

Lemon Polenta Cake

2 large lemons2 tablespoons of lemon juiceThe zest of 2 large lemons85g of polenta175g of butter2 large beaten eggs175g of caster sugar150g of ground almondsHalf a teaspoon of baking powder

Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy.Gradually beat in the 2 eggs.Fold the almonds into the mixture.Add the polenta, baking powder and the lemon zest and juice.Mix thoroughly.Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin and level off.Bake for about 50 minutes or until risen and golden brown.Remove from the oven and place it aside to cool.Once cooled remove the cake from the tin and enjoy!

Thursday, 22 April 2010

He is the cutest little frog and if I found one like him in my garden I'd want to keep him as a pet!

Tilt your head on one side, this is another picture that is a bit skewed, I always think I take a straight picture but when I upload it onto the computer I can see it isn't straight.

Another sweet and simple card today. The stamps are by Stampin Up. I added a few glossy accents to the centres of the flowers. I love using glossy accents and I'm always impressed with the effect they give, even if you can't really see the effect by this photo.

Ahh, the smell of biriyani is filling the air - yum! This time I used a Sharwoods sauce but I think I prefer Pataks. Shame, that after writing this post, I have to go and do a load of washing up. I like cooking but hate the mess it creates in my kitchen.

It's another sunny day in the UK, hurray! Have a lovely day today and thanks for visiting ...

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

I was so busy yesterday I thought I wouldn't have time to make a card. But I did in the end and this is what I came up with. Card making doesn't take a lot of time once you have the idea but it's the ideas that take most of the time.

I used this Hero Arts background stamp called 'Leaves and Flower Scatter' and coloured it in with Stampin Up markers. I love the cute whimsical style of these leaves and flowers. I didn't want to cover them up much, so only used a small Nestablities die with a little flower and sentiment to finish it off (also HA). Then the bling bit, I used Rangers Glossy Accents to highlight some of the flowers and added gems to the centres. You might need to click on the card to see better. I like the way this card goes with the design of my blog, cool hippy chic flowers, yay!

Yesterday here at Baker Towers, the fish had their tank cleaned out. Oh yes, and very happy they were too. The nice thing is they always look a bit brighter once their water has been changed. My favourite fish is in view, the large Swordtail (called Swordski for short). I do have one complaint though, I wish they'd stay still for the photo to minimise blur, but they never do!

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

This time I painted a graduated wash of Twinkling H20's onto canvas for the background. I love the look as it's nice to see fabric on a card for a change. This cute dandelion is from a retired set of stamps by Hero Arts called 'Pocketful o' Posies', so sweet, I added a gem to the centre. The butterflies are a punch by Martha Stewart, painted yellow onto watercolour paper and then punched out.

Oh look. an intruder seems to have appeared in my drawers! Please ignore all the scratches on my furniture. I'm afraid that's what happens when intruders have sharp claws!

Monday, 19 April 2010

One of these days I'm going to take a good photo, lol! Not sure whether it was the light, but this photo looks out of focus to me despite numerous attempts.

Thought I'd do a bit of painting with my twinkling H20's and create a background for my card. Twinkling H20's are a water based paint with a gorgeous shimmer that my camera hasn't picked up in this photo. I'd like to say I painted the bird and twigs as well, but no, that was a stamp by Elusive Images.

Due to gorgeous weather over the skies over the UK, and not an ash cloud in sight, my cards are taking on a simple style. Less is more when the sun shines which is why this card was nice and quick to make.

Meanwhile, high up above a pile of junk lay a Princess...

This week I have a feeling we are going in to be in for gorgeous sunny, warm weather which is BRILLIANT!

Friday, 16 April 2010

I thought I'd try out the Barn door distress ink by Tim Holtz. My favourite colour combo is red, black and white so I thought I'd use that for this card. I think it might be okay to enter this for the black, white and red challenge too over at Inkurable Stampers.

I really love the effect water has on these inks and especially spraying water onto an uninked stamp and then stamping onto the inked page because it gives a lovely bleached out image of the stamp as the water reacts with the ink. Well that's what it's supposed to do, and I have watched the genius Tim Holtz do it and it worked for him. But did it work for me, or did it splash water in big splotches all over the place? The latter of course! And that's why you can see quite a lot of white splotchy bits on the background. Ah well never mind, I think it gives a kinda batik effect.

So then I stamped some flourishes from the Tim Holtz Artful Flight set in both Barn door distress ink and Versacolor over the background. And added the Hero Arts branches (from a set I can't remember the name of!). The bird is also from Artful Flight and what I did was ink around the edges of the stamp and then stamp it on the back of some text I'd typed in Word. The other words I typed in Word also but in different fonts.

Here is a closer look...Will the little bird escape or will he be captured and caged forever? We will never know.

Thursday, 15 April 2010

Oooh I'm very excited today. I got my first ever blog award - woo hoo!!! This is from the very talented Cheryl Valadez over at The Ink Trap. Be sure to pay her a visit as she makes really cool cards that I admire very much. Thank you so much Cheryl, I really appreciate it and I'm honoured.

I don't have a card to show I'm afraid. My creative mojo took a day off and deserted me but I'm planning on getting busy today and having something to show for tomorrow.

I love reading other people's blogs and spend a lot of time doing so as they can be quite addictive. It's very inspiring to see what other people are creating. But as well as creative blogs I like to read the goings on of Kitty. I recommend taking a look. I have to get my fix of Kitty every day, its an amusing read to find out what that corn loving cat is up to.

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Well it is a coincidence as I made this card yesterday and then this morning saw that Lucy is having another challenge and this time it is stitching on cards. Luckily for me that can include faux stitching which is just as well as I don't have a sewing machine and also can't sew thru card very well.

I did my faux stitching around this large scalloped Nestabilities die with a Sakura gloss pen which gives a nice shine. Talking of shines can you tell I gave this little snail a shimmery trail underneath him with a Sakura Stardust clear pen? I used glossy accents for his shell, I do love glossy accents. Both the snail and flowers are from Hero Arts and the embossed daisies are done with a Sizzix embossing folder.

Oh yesterday was a good day. Thought I had a dentist appt and then half and hour before leaving I rang the dentist to confirm my time and they told me it wasn't until another month - yay!!!

Tuesday, 13 April 2010

I love these stitches and ribbon stamps by Hero Arts. I've had them a long time but lately have got re-aquainted. When I made the background for this card I loved it so much I didn't want to put anything on top of it. But then I thought that cute button flower (my friend Kate bought me) would look sweet with the little Hero Arts daisy flowers around it. And it reminded me of a quilt square. I would love a duvet cover in that pattern, would be so pretty.

I love colourful things for my home. They aren't always easy to find. A lot of high street stores seem to want to force dull and boring colours on us. I've been looking for a nice duvet cover for awhile and a lot of shops seem to be favouring dull washed out colours too much. There is too much beige and grey going on too. I wanted to buy a dustpan and brush the other day and all that was on offer was silver (err that's grey) and champagne (I think they mean BEIGE!). Whatever happened to red, yellow, blue, turquoise etc etc?? Ooooh it's bringing on one of my rants! Bring colour back to the UK please!!!!

Well today is Dentist Day, hopefully I won't need anything done, just the checkup.

Monday, 12 April 2010

I'm thinking lazy hot summer days. Lying in a field with a bottle of homemade lemonade and a nice man/sandwich/cat by my side (take your pick, I'd rather have the cat!). Anyway that's what my inspiration was for this card.

The gorgeous background stamp I used is called Dandelion Frame and the dragonflys are from the Antique Engravings set both by Hero Arts. I used Brilliance inks to stamp them and then chalked in some soft colours after. I also used a Sakura Stardust clear pen to sparkle the wings of the dragonflys.

Oh I added pearls to the centre of the dandelions. Would be nice if you really did find pearls in their centres. Maybe people wouldn't rip them out of the ground so fast. I love to see dandelions but people who love grass lawns don't like them. I'd rather have dandelions than grass lawns any day.

We had 2 gorgeous warm days in a row! Amazing! Friday and Saturday were really nice. I'm sure the sun is healing in many ways. It definitely made me feel stronger and happier too.

Friday, 9 April 2010

This reminds me of ice cream even tho you don't often get blue ice cream. I used the heart from Blonde Moments and the stitches and XOXOstamp from Hero Arts. The gorgeous inky colours are Adirondack's Raspberry and Tim Holz's distress inks Mustard Seed and Tumbled Glass, think they look so good together.

This morning I was getting in the shower when I heard Miaowski getting up to something in the kitchen. There was a lot of noise but I thought she was just scratching the table leg a little bit violently judging by the noise. But then when I went to investigate this is what I saw...;'Somehow she's managed to open the kitchen drawer enough to get her favourite treats out and chewed her way through the foil package - the whole thing is covered in teeth marks and there are bits of foil over the floor. She managed to get just one of the meaty sticks out and was looking very proud of herself. Just don't know how she managed to open that drawer???

We are going to be having a gorgeous sunny weekend this weekend. It's been a long time coming and I think we all deserve it here in the UK. So I'm going to get lots of suntanning in and will be back with more cards on Monday.

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Ha ha my cards are like CD's, there are the original version and then the remastered version. Especially as I didn't make any cards yesterday. I thought I could show this card again but definitely improved from the first time I showed it.

I left off the 'thank you' sentiment and changed the background colours and embossed with blue card with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots embossing folder. Think it looks much better than the last version which really bugged me especially when I over inked the 'thank you'. The poppy is called 'Elegant Poppy' by Hero Arts but it's an old stamp so I don't know whether they sell it anymore.

Check out the goody bag in my side bar - click on that to enter the Craft Barn's offer to win a goody bag worth £30!

I did some cooking this morning, Chicken Biriyani - sounds impressive but all I did was brown some chicken thighs, cut up red and green peppers and added Patak's Biriyani Aromatic Sauce. The smell is heavenly, if it was a hot day today I might just think I was in India.

Oh yesterday the sun was out big time. I actually felt the heat from it and it was just gorgeous. I'm totally addicted to sun worshipping. Apparently we are going to get a hot summer this year - let's bloomin well hope so, I can't wait!

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

I've had this Tim Holtz white rabbit stamp from Alice in Wonderland for quite awhile and was waiting to get a clock image to go with it. I love this PaperArtsy clock and think it went well, seeing as it says Cluck o Clock which makes no sense as does most things in Wonderland. The foliage stamp is from Tim Holtz Artful Flight set of stamps.

As usual when making cards, I didn't have a clear idea of what I was going to make. I just swished about with Tim Holtz's beautiful distress inks and was inspired. The inks I used were Pumice Stone, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain. And I added some Antique Gold Perfect Pearls around the edge of the card.

What I really loved using was some Rangers Crackle Accents which I brushed over the clock face. I loved it when it did indeed crackle and makes the clock face look like cracked glass. Here is a closer look...

Oh look at Tim's tag. Why didn't I think of adding a fluffy bunny tail? He is such a genius!

I'm going out today to have coffee with a friend and hopefully to do a bit of shopping. So tomorrow I might not have any work to show. But I'm sure I will come up with something to write about.

Tuesday, 6 April 2010

Ahh well it is good to send happy thoughts to someone. And I made this card using Hero Arts 'Sending Happy Thoughts' stamp set. Love this little frog, he's so cute. I added glossy accents over his eyes which looks really effective, you might have to click on the card to see it enlarged as I'm not sure if it shows that well. The background flowers are from a Stampin Up jumbo wheel called ... I can't remember ... but it is in the latest catalogue! No it is not called 'I can't remember'! Lol!

I'm at a loss for words this morning so I'm keeping this short. No hang on, here's a quote that I like ...

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Monday, 5 April 2010

Despite all my good intentions I ate too much chocolate over the weekend - how could I resist one of these cute little ducklings by Marks & Spencer? They always do such cute chocolate animals for Easter. Now I'm gonna have to pay for it by being extra good all this week. Well I get cross with myself when my willpower goes out the window.

And I get very cross with myself when I mess up a perfectly good card by looking at it too much and deciding it needs something else doing to it. And then I do the extra thing and end up messing it up. I liked this sweet card with the poppy by Hero Arts but it looked a little boring to me so I added the ladybird and sentiment (also by Hero Arts). Hmmmph! An overinked sentiment is not what I had in mind but that's what I got. Well that'll teach me to leave well alone because really this card started off looking quite sweet but now is overdone. I have to think how to cover up that mistake, if I come up with something that disguises the 'you' it will be a miracle.

Oh well never mind that. Take a look at these beautiful tulips in my kitchen. Admittedly not a good picture but I did it at an angle to try and exclude the washing machine. Can you tell its another dark and dismal morning? It's a bank holiday today, that's why :)

To those in the UK, Happy Bank Holiday! To everyone else Happy Monday!

Friday, 2 April 2010

This little chick and basket are by Memory box another favourite stamp company of mine. They arrived yesterday so this is what I've come up with so far. Dotty background stamp by Stampin Up and the die cut is Nestabilities large scalloped circles. I embossed the yellow card with Cuttlebug's Caremelo embossing folder.

The other day I was looking up vintage cat images on Google and came across some sweet vintage Easter cards that also included cats. This is so sweet and pretty...

Here is another image going around the emails at the moment and isn't something you'd normally see, but is oh so cute...

I'm feeling a little weary this morning as I set my alarm an hour early by mistake. I haven't got over the fact that we lost an hour due to day time savings and now I've lost another hour. What time do you think I got up this morning? 4.30am that's what! I didn't realise until 6am so didn't bother going back to bed.

I'm gonna take a break from blogging over the weekend and will be back next week. I'm hoping my creativity mojo will be rejuvenated.

Thursday, 1 April 2010

I made this card for my mum. She has a cute West Highland Terrier called Millie. This image is from Pink Gem Designs and the sentiment is Stampin up (unfortunately got over inked - why is it I make a card and then at the end I put the sentiment on it and it either smudges, is over inked or doesn't come out properly??). I coloured it all with chalks. The scalloped squares are Nestabilities dies. This photo looks a bit blurred to me, I gotta take better photos!

Millie isn't as snow white as that dog though, oh no! Infact if I'd coloured in the dog all colours apart from white, that would have been more realistic seeing as she gets herself all dirty on a regular basis :)

Ahh, pets, what do they get up to when your back is turned? Miaowski is totally obsessed with paper clips. Ever since she was a kitten she has been fascinated with them and will play with one for hours, batting them up in the air and chasing after them. They have to be coloured ones and she is partial to yellow. My favourite colour is yellow so maybe she takes after me. Anyway the other evening she was restless and trying to get my attention when I suddenly heard this crash behind me. What???

Aha, caught in the act!

Unsurprisingly she didn't pick them back up and put them in their pot!

I'm not sure where Spring has gone as it is icy cold today. It is sunny though so at least it looks cheerful outside.

Welcome! I like to create which is why I love drawing and card making. I live on my own with my cat Miaowski. I aspire to being an artist one day or to be talented in card making. Actually I aspire to be talented in at least something I love to do :)